BROWN V. BOARD OF EDUCATION
What would break the back of Jim Crow America? What role did education play in the movement to desgregate America?

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Using the the links provided, analyze the landmark Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education. Cut and paste the information below into a new entry on your Unit 8 Online Notebook.



SETTING THE STAGE - Participate in The Road to Justice activity

BASIC FACTS OF THE CASES (more than one) (check video, Link 1, Link 2, Link 3)
Make a bulleted list of the basic facts of the cases brought to the Supreme Court

  • Oliver Brown and other 13 parents instituted the suit in court
  • Challenged school segregation
  • Also aimed for stopping segregation around the world
  • In Topeka, Kansas
  • 5 cases total
  • The Brown case is the most famous because it was the first alphabetically

MAIN ARGUMENTS OF THE PLAINTIFF (for integration) (check Link 1)
List the major arguments of the plaintiffs
  • In the Fourteenth Amendment, equal protection laws did not allow for racial segregation.
  • The Fourteenth Amendment allowed the government to prohibit any discrimination based on race, even in public schools.
  • The Fourteenth Amendment did not specify whether the states could be allowed to permit segregated education.
  • Psychological testing demonstrated the harmful effects of segregation on the minds of African American children.

MAIN ARGUMENTS OF THE DEFENDANTS (for segregation) (check Link 1)
List the major arguments of the Defendants
  • The Constitution did not require for white and African American children to attend the same schools.
  • Social separation was a regional custom; the states should be free to deal with their own social affairs.
  • Segregation was not harmful to black people.
  • Whites were trying to make both groups equal but since the African American children were still living in the effects of slavery, they could not be able to compete at the same school level as white children.

THE CHANGE IN THE COURT (leading to a decision) (check **Link 1**)
What important change happened, and what was its impact?

Chief Justice Fred Vinson, who doubted the constitutional authority of the court to change school segregation, died. President Dwight Eisenhower appointed Earl Warren as chief justice. His leadership in producing an unanimous vote to overturn Plessy changed the course of American History.

THE COURT DECISION (in your own words) (check **Link 1** and Link 2)
What did the Court decide?

Earl Warren wrote the decision of the court. It said that the framers of the Fourteenth Amendment were not clear whether they permitted segregated education. The doctrine "separate but equal" was meant for transportation, not education. Segragated education did not let African Americans get equal protection, which was unconstitutional.

ENFORCING THE DECISION (discuss "with all deliberate speed") (Check Link 1)
What was the Court's statement about the enforcement of the decision? What happened to the enforcement?

The Court only said to the states that segragation had to end "with all deliberate speed" (very vague), which only gave an opportunity to segragationists to organize resistance.

THE IMPACT and LEGACY
(Check **Link 1**)
What is the overall importance and legacy of Brown v. Board?


The case spread to the whole country and soon there were huge groups of African Americans fighting for equality. They wanted the decision to be enforced. Fifty years after, the movement had come to include ethnic minorities, women, people with disabilities, and others.